His hand brushing through her hair had worked like magic. Or perhaps it was the sheer positivity that the last day had brought, that had granted her a night without nightmares, without waking up at random times through the night. Because, even though she had her worries about everything, the day had ended good. It felt like the experience with the last Duke had been ages ago and her mind had mostly been busy replaying their wedding. The moment she had stared into his eyes and decided that she wanted him there for the rest of her days. How it had gotten both of them far enough to let down their guard completely, finding a window of love once they reached the bedroom. Next time they fought, they needed to remember that this was what they were doing it for. That when they had their bliss, it was absolutely perfect.

The sun had only just started to rise when the brunette started to wake up. Gradually, she became aware of her surroundings. How the birds outside softly chirped and how the smell of clean sheets was all around this room, which was probably cleaned up unnecessarily often. But, most importantly, she wasn’t alone. Finally, she opened her eyes, rubbing them a bit before she finally let her gaze move towards his face, curious to see if he was awake. Now that he was a vampire, she knew he didn’t need sleep. Or, at least, less so. Yet, he seemed to take it and for that she was glad, as she did not want to force him to stay and have him spend his time overthinking things. And while he was free to spend his nights awake, she really preferred him right here: next to her. As close as possible.

---

He wasn’t going to wake up soon and she was well aware. There hadn’t been a single time where he had woken up early, as far as she remembered, and she doubted that day would ever come. So she stayed in place, smiling softly as he turned himself towards her. The fact that he was still asleep while doing so, only made it better. While they weren’t perfect, she knew they had come a long way. Hopefully, they would continue to move forward.

It was after what felt like an eternity, but in reality probably wasn’t more than thirty minutes, that she realised that sleep was over. There was no way that she was going to fall asleep again. Not as soon as she had made a list in her mind of all the things she needed to do. The longer she stayed here, thinking about that and nothing else, the worse it would get. She was better off just getting up and getting as much as possible done. And then hopefully, sleep early the next night. Still, she didn’t want Kaz to wake up alone. Not on their first day together. So, he would have to wake up. Her first effort in doing so, was slowly brushing her fingers through his hair. Probably not too effective, but who knew.

---

He wasn’t waking up yet. Dammit. She only needed him for a few seconds. She didn’t want him to wake up in the castle alone, without any clue where she had ran off to. The one time that had happened was in Valyria and he hadn’t quite appreciated it. And while a part of her wanted to let him sleep, as peaceful as he looked now, she needed to get stuff done or she would go crazy. So, she bent towards him and softly pressed her lips against his cheek, before lying back in place and raising a brow. “Kaz?” she asked sweetly. Were he to respond now, she could at least tell him and hope that he would be able to fall back asleep.

---

“Love you too,” she answered with a smile, after her husband had kindly told her to fuck off. “We’re having a celebration in two days. I’m heading out to arrange what’s needed, yes?” she told him, smiling. She kind of expected him to fight off the idea of a party. It was probably far from his favorite way to spend an evening, but she knew they had to. ust to show their faces to their people. To make things easy, they could arrange the coronation to be followed by the party, so two birds would be hit with one stone. “You just rest today,” she told him sweetly, brushing her fingers through his hair. He deserved all the rest he could get.

---

An unexpected response, but she decided that it was enough. While she knew he wouldn’t like the thought of a celebration once he would wake up more, it was something that simply needed to happen. For now, he was going to take some more rest, clearly, and she would arrange whatever it was that needed to be arranged. So with that thought, she got up from the bed. “Sleep well,” she told him with a smile. She needed to go by the Jarl and get him his money, after which she could arrange for some of their stuff to be moved to the Castle. She also needed to inform their new employees about what was going to change and who were going to live here. As she expected Elayne to arrive soon. Who was still unknown to Kaz. Also something that needed to be fixed. Another sigh sounded, before she opened the door as quietly as possible, to leave the room.

Sleep well, Kaz.

---